DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO –
Two men who federal and state authorities say were part of a busy and sometimes violent smuggling ring were sentenced to jail under an infrequently used state charge of human trafficking.

Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sontag sentenced Alvardo to 10 months in jail and probation. Ventura was sentenced to a year in jail.

Two other men involved in the ring also face charges. Jonathan Aguilar-Lopez pleaded guilty last week to smuggling charges in federal court. After he is sentenced in September on those charges, he is expected to be charged with human trafficking in state court.

The fourth man, Juventino Rodriguez-Ismerio, will be in state court Friday for a hearing.

The charges stem from an incident on April 13, when Rodriguez phoned the wife of Martin Guadarrama, whom he had smuggled across the border from Mexico earlier that day, according to court records.

He told the woman that her husband was being held hostage and that unless she came up with $1,500, he would be killed, chopped up and his body parts would be spread “all around Highway 78” in Oceanside, according to an arrest warrant.

The woman contacted San Diego police. They put the home under surveillance the next day and had the woman contact the kidnappers to tell them she had the money. That night, Alvardo and Ventura showed up with Guadarrama and were arrested.

Detectives contacted federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and traced the group to a home on Cortez Avenue in Escondido. A raid there uncovered eight more smuggled illegal immigrants being held in a room with boarded windows and other restraints.

As the ringleader, Aguilar was prosecuted first in federal court. The others were prosecuted under a state law that recognizes the use of threats, violence and depriving someone of “personal liberty” as an element of human trafficking, said Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means.

When human trafficking law is used, it is often for people who are brought to the country and pressed to work in the sex trade or other forced labor, she said. It is not common to see the law used when a smuggler turns to extortion, Means said.

Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge of ICE in San Diego, said the case was an example of local and federal authorities working together.

Alvardo faces deportation after serving his sentence, but Ventura's status was unclear. Means declined to say whether Guadarrama was still in the country.